Graduate Courses
The Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation offers Master of Science (thesis and nonthesis option) and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in wildlife ecology and conservation.
Program emphases include wildlife biology, ecology, and management; landscape ecology and restoration; human dimensions; tropical and international conservation; and conservation education.
Graduate students should have appropriate undergraduate training in the biological, social, and physical sciences including physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Students with inadequate backgrounds may be required to take (without credit at the graduate level) remedial undergraduate courses pertinent to their fields of interest.
Systematics, morphology, biogeography, life history patterns, ecology, and conservation of caecilians, salamanders, frogs, crocodilians, turtles, lizards, and snakes. Weekend field trips required.
Offered spring semester of odd-numbered years.
Diseases of wildlife, with emphasis on their impact on avian and mammalian populations of North America.
Ecology, macrophysiology, life phases, population dynamics, biological rhythms, social systems, conservation issues.
Structure and function of tropical and subtropical savanna biomes. Savanna formation, wildlife habitat, grazing herbivory, fire and interaction of native, domestic, and exotic species.
Offered spring semester of even-numbered years.
Scientific philosophy and logic of modern ecological approaches, and practical research design as applied to wildlife field ecology.
Offered fall semester.
Major types of plant-animal interactions and the conceptual and empirical approaches used to study them.
Offered alternate years, starting Fall Semester 2006.
Application of biological and resource management theory to the problem of the conservation of natural communities.
Offered fall semester.
Concepts, principles, and applications of landscape ecology for biodiversity conservation. Landscape processes such as fire, hurricanes, and migrations, as well as ecological management required to sustain biodiversity as humans interact with natural landscape.
Examination of geology, hydrology, chemistry, flora, fauna, and ecology of major wetland systems in North America.
Emphasis on population processes of wildlife resources in subtropical and temperate ecosystems, and on policy processes governing management structure; experimental testing of community interaction; emphasis on application of theory to management.
This course is offered Spring of even-numbered years.
Rigorous background in population analysis covering population growth and regulation, species interactions, life-history theory, and population viability analysis.
Measurement of compositional and structural aspects of plant communities in relation to animal needs. Application of wildlife habitat models.
Theory and applications of life tables, age, and stage-structured matrix population models. Sensitivity analysis and analysis of life table response experiments. Unstructured population models.
Exploration of applied and quantitative methods to explore links between landscape patterns and processes.
Theory and practice of environmental interpretation for natural resource management. Design, implementation, and evaluation of programming about environment for variety of audiences and settings.
Natural resource agency administration primer in budgets, personnel management, program development, leadership, and strategic planning.
Strategies and paradigms for management and conservation of mammalian carnivore populations. Social systems, life history variables, conflicts with human, reintroduction and translocation.
Offered spring semester of odd-numbered years.
Interdisciplinary overview of theory and practice of conservation education, communication, and integrated resource management using local and international models.
This course will provide students with a background in theoretical and conceptual foundations as a basis for contemporary understanding of wildlife ecology and its application in conservation and management. The course is designed to provide graduate students in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation with a common basis for development of their graduate program and professional and intellectual development.
Advanced concepts and practices in wildlife management and conservation. Topics vary.
Gain intensive field exposure to unique Coastal Plain ecosystems. Focus on natural history, challenges of conservation management and restoration of longleaf pine savanna ecosystem, associated isolated wetlands, and riparian forests.
Research for doctoral students before admission to candidacy. Designed for students with a master’s degree in the field of study or for students who have been accepted for a doctoral program. Not appropriate for students who have been admitted to candidacy. S/U.
